34 How Bad Do You Want It?

"Huff... Huff"

Green panted heavily as he completed that morning's gym session with am aching body, he had a white towel around his neck and he wore a gray T shirt.

A day had passed since the attack of the hell hounds and things had already returned to normal at the school.

"When did you start working out?"

A voice said behind him as he walked out the gym doors, he quickly turned back with a terrified expression on his face and saw Ryan grinning widely, all his bandages had been taken off and most of his injuries had healed.

"Green my man, what's up?"

"Y...you.. what happened? You were injured"

Green stuttered,

"Ah... Don't worry too much, one of the major features of my DID is quick recovery"

Ryan explained and put his arm across Green's shoulder.

"Oh... So you're fine now"

Green said,

"Yeah. Never been better"

Ryan said with a broad smile,

"Okay, so how is Laura?"

Green asked,

"She's recovering too though not as fast as me but she'll be fine. She didn't really incur much injuries"

Ryan replied,

"Oh okay... I'll be going then, I've got an appointment now"

Green said and turned to leave but paused when he heard Ryan's question,

"How is Sam?"

Green thought he heard a hint of irritation in Ryan's voice but he quickly disregarded it as a figment of his imagination.

"She's fine though she was worried sick about you. You should probably go and see her now that you've been discharged"

Green said,

"Okay"

Sam nodded and both of them went their separate ways.

***

[Battle Arena: Land of Snow]

"So how was your first day at the gym?"

Jack asked, he was standing in front of Green with his hands behind him and his legs placed slightly apart from each other in a military stance.

"Ugh! Horrible..."

Green groaned as he rubbed the back of his neck and Jack burst into a hearty laughter.

"Hahahahaha"

"Why are you laughing? It's not funny.."

Green had an adamant expression on his face.

"Nothing... It's just that your expression was quite comical when you said it"

Jack said as he regained his composure,

"..."

Green just stared blankly at him,

"So... Any success with the materialization?"

Jack quickly changed the topic,

[Author's note: Materialization is the process of bringing out magic energy from the body or surroundings to become visible.]

"No... Nothing yet..."

Green said sullenly and looked at his palm,

"I can feel the energy everytime I concentrate but i can't bring myself to materialize it. It's so difficult"

"Hmm... That's a problem"

Jack said and placed his hand on his chin,

"A...a problem? Does that mean I can't use magic?"

Green overreacted,

"No, no. That's not it. Mages rarely encounter difficulties in materialization but I remember one of my students who had this same issue. It turned out that his magic seemed to have a mind of it's own and refused to materialize unless he had a goal to work for."

Jack explained,

"A goal to work for? What does that mean?"

Green asked,

"A reason to use the magic, a reason strong enough to make the magic allow you to use it"

"What was your student's reason?"

Green asked,

"Well... To get stronger of course, after some hooligans affiliated with the fraternity murdered his brother in cold blood. Well, that's an ironic reason because currently, he's a very powerful and well respected general in one of the armies working for the fraternity"

Jack said casually,

"What!! How would he go to the same people that killed his brother?"

Green yelled,

"Believe me, I've asked myself that question a million times but it seems that they must've brain washed him with some sort of logic... Who knows?*

"...okay"

Green had a feeling that there was more to the story than Jack had said but he decided to let it slide.

"So you think my own magic has a mind of his own like your student's?"

"Well.... I'm not exactly sure but i think that's the most reasonable explanation for now"

Jack said,

"Hmm... If that's the case then I have a reason. I want to get stronger!"

Green affirmed,

"How bad do you want it? That's what really matters"

Jack said sternly,

"How bad do I want it?"

Green muttered to himself as he thought,

'Do I really want to get stronger at all costs? Or do I just want to get stronger because I was impressed by Mr Jack and the use of magic? Man... How bad do I want it?'

"You know what Green, you can think about it for as long as you want to okay? No pressure"

Jack said and put an assuring hand on Green's shoulder.

Green sighed and said,

"There's a pressure, I have to beat Derek so that he can be your student"

"Don't worry about that. Let's just give it our best okay?"

...

After the training session that day,

'How bad do you want it?'

The question ate away at the back of Green's mind throughout their training, he just couldn't bring himself to stop thinking about it.

His face had a long expression on it as they ended the training session. There had been no improvement at all, he could still feel the magic energy tickle in his arms but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't materialize it and it made him feel very depressed.

"Hey, don't look so downcast. Everything will be fine Green"

Jack consoled him as the battle arena fizzled off and they were standing inside Jack's office.

"Yeah..."

Green trailed off,

Jack looked up at Green, he looked like he had something to say,

"Do you have something you want to say?"

"Yeah... During the attack, I felt a very strong pressure in my heart and when it stopped, I unintentionally released a strong blast of energy from my body. At that point, I used my power without prior thought..."

Green explained,

'A strong blast of energy huh? Just like the day I unsealed him...'

Jack thought before saying,

"Well... It could be that your power was trying to save you then or it could be more reason that your power has a mind of it's own. Let's study it a bit longer, shall we?"

"Okay Mr Jack, I'll be going now"

Green said and left Jack's office.

***

Sam was sitting in the park with her headphones on as she made some notes on a notepad. She was so engrossed that she didn't notice when someone walked up to her and tapped her on her shoulder.

"Hey! Who's..."

Sam had jumped in fright to the person who tapped her but her words were suddenly lost in the air as she saw the person standing before her

"Hi, can I sit?"

Ryan said to her with a wave and a small smile,

"Su...ye..yeah, you can"

She said and gestured to the empty space beside her on the bench where she sat.

"So you've healed already?"

"Yeah..."

Ryan said and sat down.

For a moment, there was silence between the two of them before Ryan said,

"You've changed a lot since we came to this school"

"Pfft! Changed? How? What are you talking about?"

Sam asked cautiously,

"Well, I don't know whether it's because of the school's influence or because of Green but you're not what you used to be before"

Ryan said,

"Hehe"

Sam laughed nervously,

"I still don't understand what you're talking about"

"Don't play dumb with me Sam!"

Ryan yelled and people began to stare at them.

Ryan looked away to the people who were staring at them to scare them off but when he looked back at Sam's face, the cold expression on it sent shivers down his spine.

"What do you want?"

She asked fiercely,

"Our friendship. Your soft hearted DID and Green are making you too soft and that is something we do not need for survival, remember?."

Ryan said calmly,

"Plus I've been seeing more of your DID personality. What's wrong Sam? Are you hiding from someone?"

"Yes"

"Really?"

Ryan was shocked to hear that Sam was hiding from someone, who could it be?

"Who is it?"

Who/What do you think Sam is hiding from?